UN warns Thailand Uygurs face torture if deported to China

Thailand’s government insists there are no immediate plans to deport the 48 detainees, who fled China and were arrested in Thailand in 2014

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Uygur detainees who say they are facing deportation to China sit in an immigration detention centre in Bangkok in February last year. Photo: Handout via AP

Published: 3:47pm, 22 Jan 2025

United Nations human rights experts have urged Thailand not to send 48 Uygurs in its custody back to China, warning they are at risk of torture, ill-treatment and “irreparable harm” if returned.

Human rights groups and some Thai lawmakers have raised concerns in the past week that the transfer to China of the Uygurs, who have been held in immigration detention for more than a decade, was imminent. The government has said it has no such plans.

Rights groups accuse Beijing of widespread abuses of Uygurs, a mainly Muslim ethnic minority that numbers around 10 million in the western region of Xinjiang, including the alleged mass use of surveillance and forced labour in camps. Beijing denies any abuses.

“These persons should not be returned to China,” said the UN’s special rapporteurs on human rights in a statement on Tuesday about the 48 Uygurs.

“Instead, they must be provided with access to asylum procedures and other humanitarian assistance,” the experts said, adding that half of the group had serious health conditions.

An immigration detention centre is seen in Bangkok on Wednesday. Photo: AFP

Thai Deputy Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai said last week there was no immediate plan to deport the Uygurs to China, while national police chief Kittirat Panpetch said on Monday there had been no government order on their deportation.